Peugeot Type 6 Phaeton With Capote

It is not surprising that the first automobiles resemble carriages. After all, the carriage design already existed; the horse was replaced as the power source by an engine, which used chains or belts to drive the wheels.

This early Peugeot, which has never been restored, is a typical example of the ‘horseless carriage’. In fact, it still has the brackets for the horses’ reins as well as the fixings for the pole. Evidently thought had been given to the fact that in the case of an emergency the car might have to be drawn by horses. The car was delivered to a Parisian customer on 8 June 1894 and is one of the oldest cars produced by a manufacturer still in existence. The first Peugeot car was presented in 1889 and was steam-driven. A year later it was decided to install a petrol engine; initially this would be a Daimler, but from 1896 onwards Peugeot manufactured its own engines. This Type 6, of which only seven were produced, is still equipped with a Daimler engine. The family business Peugeot Frères was set up in 1810, producing steel tools and kitchen equipment such as coffee and pepper mills; it later made bicycles and sewing machines. The two cousins Armand and Eugène started the car production.